Tuesday, December 15, 2009

I am using six strands of floss - DMC color #3843 - I love this color!

The stitch I am attempting :) is called the "wheatear stitch". That is the name that 100 Stitches calls it but another embroidery book I found calls this stitch the "wheat stitch". A Google search shows results for both names but the most results for wheat stitch. However, since I am working through 100 Stitches, I will use the name they do. The first step is to make two single straight stitches forming a chevron shape. Bring the needle back up through the fabric a little below the point of the chevron.

Now, carefully slide the needle under the chevron stitches - between the stitches and the fabric, not picking up any fabric at all.

Pull the thread through, and bring the needle back down through the fabric right where you came up.

Thats it! So simple - now you bring the needle back up through the fabric and start the whole thing over again!

Continue to form a beautiful stitched line:

Here is another view -the line ends with a final two straight stitches forming the last chevron.

This was such an easy to do stitch that I even took a picture of the back of my fabric to demonstrate how clean and simple this stitch is to work.

This stitch is #51 and is in the "Linked Stitches" section of the 100 Stitches book.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

The next stitch on my list of stitches to learn is the twisted chain stitch. This one I found to be complicated. The instructions said to begin the stitch like the ordinary chain stitch but do not re-insert the needle back where the thead first comes out - basically, the thread comes up along the pattern line then, the thread goes down a little to the left and a little below where the thread first came up:

So far...so good. Then the needle tip comes back up slanting towards the pattern line:

This is where I found it getting complicated - I was having trouble keeping the thread in the right place in relation to the needle but apparently, the thread now goes under the needle and you carefully pull the needle all the way through...

ending up with a nice loop.

Then you start the next stitch a little to the left and a little below the bottom of the loop:

and repeat the process!

I started having a little trouble keeping my loops the same size and tension and laying flat on the fabric! I need a lot more practice.

I went ahead and finished stitching the line and here is what the final result looks like:

I think this is correct! Mine doesn't look as even as the diagram but I don't really know what I am doing wrong.

This stitch is #41 and is in the "linked stitches" section of the 100 Stitches book.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

I LOVE these new Christmas place cards! I have just finished a new packet of printable place cards - and listed them in my etsy shop. I had so much fun making these place cards.

After printing them and cutting them out, I decorated a few of them with glitter glue. To write the names on these cards, I am going to use decorative and my favorite - metallic pens!
Here is what the printable packet looks like:

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Here is the next stitch on the ongoing 100 stitches project - the fern stitch:

This is a super easy stitch - it basically consists of three equal length :) straight stitches that radiate from the same center point. The center stitch follows the line of the design you are using for your stitching. I just did it in a straight line because I wasn't sure how hard it would be. This stitch is in the category of "flat stitches" and is #5 on the 100 stitches list.

Monday, November 2, 2009

I selected this stitch because I already knew how to do it - I used it for the hem on this acorn tea towel:

After the struggle with the bullion and lazy daisy stitches, I wanted to do something really easy!

So here is my example of the beautiful and useful running stitch. The basic running stitch is shown on the far right. But according to the 100 Stitches book, the running stitch can be used as a decorative border when you add another thread with a contrasting color. The middle stitching shows the running stitch "whipped" and the row of stitching on the far left shows the running stitch "laced".

These two decorative additions were fun to do and mine look just like the instruction pictures in the book :) The running stitch is #4 and is in the flat stitches section of 100 Stitches.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

I have just added a new non-embroidery item to my Etsy shop. I think that so many of my embroidery patterns would look nice as images - full color, high quality images that could be used for all types of projects. Projects such as scrapbooking, journal embellishing, stationery elements, labels, tags etc. So the first set I put together is this Merry Christmas gift tag packet.

I used many of the embellishment patterns from my Merry Christmas embroidery pattern packet. I printed them out on a heavy cardstock paper, cut them out and embellished them with glitter glue. I also included a square template and a circle tempate that are appropriately sized to be decorative back or bottom layers for the tags. I printed these out on complementary colored paper and cut them out. I even used some scalloped-edged scissors on some of them. I am definetly going to use them as gift tags for my Christmas presents this year!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The next stitch in my 100 Stitches project is #53 the bullion stitch. This stitch is in the "knotted stitches" section of 100 Stitches - right after #52 - the french knot. Since I know how to do a french knot and it is one of my favorite stitches, I thought this bullion stitch would also be easy and fun to do :( However, no matter how many times I read the written instructions or followed the diagram, I came up with this:

I finally consulted an embroidery technique book that I had checked out from the library and it was a bit more helpful. I was pleased to see that this library book categorized the bullion knot as a level difficult - for experienced stitchers. I still wasn't able to make a good enough bullion knot though, so I watched a demonstration on the wonderful http://www.needlenthread.com/ website! After watching the demonstration twice I was able to do this:

This actually is a very easy and fun to do stitch once you understand how it is done. I love the way those stitches in the above picture are arranged - I think that if I had done them in a pale purple color and added a green stem, this would make a perfect lavender stalk!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

I love all the patterns in it and especially the beautiful ornaments of the main pattern. Here is what they look like stitched in gorgeous but always frustrating metallic floss:

There are a ton of embellishment patterns included in this packet - here is a close up of the wreath pattern - I am busy stitching up more of the included patterns and I will post the pictures as I complete them!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

I am organizing some of my Christmas project supplies! I just love this metallic thread - some I already had and some are the new colors I just bought. Metallic thread comes in so many beautiful colors!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The latest stitch in my 100 stitches project is stitch #40, the lazy daisy stitch. I have had so much trouble learning this stitch! It isn't that the stitch itself is hard to do, it's that it is so hard to make the stitches even and the same size when making a flower! Here is the least embarrassing example of my first attemptsI thought it might not look so bad if I added some french knots in the centers :) Still noticing the uneven, poorly spaced and loopy stitches :( After much stitching, removing of stitching and re-stitching...I think I am happy with the result:sort of.This really is a pretty stitch. I think I will love stitching lazy daisies when I have a pattern to work from. This stitch is from the "linked stitches" section of the 100 stitches book
***update*** When I first started posting about my journey through the 100 Stitches book, I mostly just took a picture of my completed stitch or line of stitching. The more comfortable I got learning these new stitches, the more I started to document the steps of the stitches as I went along. Now my 100 Stitches posts always have a step by step demonstration of my stitching. I am currently going back through my early 100 Stitches posts and adding demonstration pictures. Here is my demonstration of the lazy daisy stitch. I am using a beautiful orange dmc color variations pearl cotton floss. I started with a daisy from the Daisy embroidery pattern packet and transferred it onto my fabric:
The first step is to bring your needle up through the fabric at the base of one of the daisy petals:
pull the thread all the way through:
Now take your needle back down through the fabric right where it first emerged:
and bring your needle back out at the end of the daisy petal. As your needle emerges, make sure it is going to over the working floss. Start pulling:
and keep pulling...you can see a loop forming:
when you have pulled all the way, you will have a nice petal formedYou now can secure the petal in place by taking a single stitch: that is all there is to this stitch, just do the same steps on the next petal:
until you have completed all the petals. I added a french knot in the center of mine:
and here is what the underside of my stitching looks like: